5 Reasons the New Battletome Rocks

The Stormcast Eternals are the heroes of the age: sigmarite-clad liberators of the Mortal Realms who have driven the armies of Chaos back from the brink of ultimate victory and carved out new kingdoms for the free races.

Back in 2015, the Stormcast Eternals were rightly the first army to get their own Battletome, representing the first forces of Sigmar to stride forth as the gates of Azyr opened.

Flash forward to today, and the Stormhosts have been much reinforced since those first battles on the Brimstone Peninsula. We’ve seen new heroes emerge including bold warriors riding drake-scions of Dracothian to war, and now roving Stormcast Rangers and the swift and deadly Gryph-cavalry.

Battletomes have changed too. Always invaluable guides to an army, the newer Battletomes now feature magical items, spells, thematic battalions, Allegiance Abilities, matched play points and more besides. This newest iteration of the Stormcast Eternals’ Battletome includes all of these things alongside the warscrolls for all new and existing units – some of which have been updated since their initial release.

The Warhammer Community team were lucky enough to get our hands on a copy early, and we’ve been pouring over every word in this 168-page tome to see what we loved most. And we’re delivering that info in a classic top-5 format:

5) Super Customisable Heroes!

Creating unique and powerful heroes can be a lot of fun, and really personalise a force. With this Battletome, Stormcast Eternal heroes have become the most customisable and flexible in the entire game.

Your general has 6 new abilities to choose from in addition to the ones that appear in the General’s Handbook, your Lord-Relictors can choose from 6 new prayers of Sigmar, Totem bearers can take one of 3 Treasured Standards, the effect of some heroes’ lanterns can be upgraded to one of three mystic lights, one hero’s Dracoth, Stardrake, or Gryph-charger can choose from their own table of 6 traits, and to top it all off, any Stormcast hero has another 18(!) magical artefacts to choose from!

So, for example, you could have a general on a Stardrake with a new Command Trait, a new suite of enchanted armour AND a new trait for his mount. The possibilities and options are nearly endless.

4) New Allegiance Rules: Battle Traits

This one is a huge change to the way that pure Stormcast Eternals armies will play on the tabletop. ‘Scions of the Storm’ allows your ENTIRE Stormcast army to drop from the stars on bolts of celestial lightning, just as they do in the lore of the Mortal Realms. There are a few limitations of course. It only happens for each unit on a dice roll, and there’s a minimum distance of 9″ you must be from the enemy. You’ll have to be careful you don’t end up engaging piecemeal, but in the hands of a skilled general, this will be devastating.

3) Themed Stormhosts

The backstory of the various Stormhosts is expanded to flesh out some of the origins and characteristics of each. Some of the most renowned – the Hammers of Sigmar, Knights Excelsior, Celestial Vindicators and Hallowed Knights for example – are even represented by themed Warscroll Battalions adding an even deeper level of character to your Stormcast Eternals army on the tabletop.

2) The Story Advances

Last time we saw the Stormcast Eternals in a Battletome, they were the aggressors – the noble crusaders of Sigmar’s new age. Now the timeline has advanced, and we see the cities of the Mortal Realms start to take shape. Some Stormcasts have set up keeps in these new frontier kingdoms. We loved the concept sketches of their armour, and the new maps of familiar portions of the realms, complete with new cities and discovered settlements. For collectors and painters, this is a great opportunity for some inspired armies. What does a Stormcast Eternals army based in the various realms look like? Do they fight alone, or alongside the free-regiments from their warden-city? We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

1) A New Chamber

The Vanguard Auxiliary Chamber are Sigmar’s rangers and scouts in the Mortal Realms. Outflanking and outmanoeuvring a foe before driving in for the kill, they are nevertheless still Stormcasts, and as formidable a force of warriors as any of the other reforged heroes of Azyr. The Battletome contains rules for all of them, from the Vanguard-Hunters we’ve seen already, to the as-yet-unreleased Vanguard-Palladors, Vanguard-Raptors and their liege the Lord-Aquilor.

All in, we’re pretty excited about this Battletome.

You can order your own copy here, or find it in stores this weekend.

Alternatively, you can download the Digital Edition of Battletome from iBooks, blacklibrary.com or in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar app tomorrow.